A mini-review of Nanocarriers in drug delivery systems

Abstract

The application of nanotechnology indrug delivery systems (DDS) has been researched widely and seen an advancementover the past three decades. Since the 1970s, nanoparticles were primarilyutilised in vaccine deliveries and cancer chemotherapy. In more recent years,they have been found to hold promises for broader applications such as inproteins and therapeutic gene delivery systems. To date, there have been only ahandful of nanocarrier-loaded drugs commercialised into the pharmaceuticalmarket. More research is thus needed to facilitate a breakthrough of theseproducts into the current market. This mini-review mainly focuses on four typesof commonly utilised organic nanocarriers including micelles, compactpolymerics, solid-lipid nanoparticles and liposomal vesicles and discusses theprogress and some challenges associated with these nanoparticles (NP).